Anna and Luca should have been a lot closer to B/S. I hate that in every competition there is this weird judging. The gap is so big, they won't win anymore. I would be more worried if they even get bronze.

As for B/S levels being upgraded, if you'd read attentively you might have realised that katia meant that they were initially called level 3, and then reviewed and upgraded

Give me the source other than katia to prove this theory if you please.

Originally Posted by IleK

But you didn'y say that the russians were better in your opinion. I like Elena and Nikita but their programs are awful and the other russian team it's nice but just nice, nothing special and had some wobbles here an there, they didn't skate with ease, he seemed stressed and she did a a very strange twizzles while the italians had very powerful and quick twizzles. I prefer Ekaterina an Ilia to the other 2 russian teams.

Dear, when I write "I saw.." or "I don't see..." it means exactly "in my opinion". So leave it. The best twizzles of the night belonged to I/K and got scored accordingly. B/S twizzles got leveled-down exactly thanks to the mistake you described. C/L lost both patterns in TES to B/S who is the best technical ice dancers for now in Europe. All fair and square. As for R/T, they had the highest BV of the night with C/L having the same BV as the guys on place #9. So, C/L should considered themselves lucky that they got higher PCS than R/T and therefore ended up on 3rd.

I didn't watch the Russians, but I just watched Anna and Luca: they didn't give their very best, I think (especially the last lift), but I think that the difference in the PCS between them and I/K is too high, especially about CH and IN, I really don't understand why this program (Anna and Luca's, I mean) keeps being underscored, at the GPF they had lower PCS than I/K, too, in the SD, when I think that their program is actually much better in the choreography and and in the interpretation... And I don't understand those +1 in the twizzles: they were just perfect! I expected +2 and +3 from all the judges!!

Give me the source other than katia to prove this theory if you please.

The official commentators can see on a screen the levels that technical panel gives live (at least, in Italy!), so they can see what they initially give, and then what they change, and the marks that are being given by the judges when they are giving them, like if they were "inside" the panel of judges, so I think that katia heard it by the commentators of her/his own tv...

As for PCS "way higher" I assume it's a one more joke. Way higer is like what? 10 a la Voir all over the board? C/L skated quite slowly, like 15 minutes or somesuch. Her back is wooden and legs are all hop-hop/skip-skip. The concept of the dance is quite silly but I admit they do their best to look just funny. Where are the overpraised Shpil's edges? I saw mini-skiing on the ice instead.
Russians skated better compared to their earlier selves but still wasn't perfect. When they are, the gap between them and Italians will be way bigger, simply because Italians can't skate better. Both Russian teams are so close to each other that it was rather difficult to predict the result. The protocols are up and you can observe the details. I/K SD I see like one whole unit, while B/S is more like two dances in the similar genre skating one after another. B/S was magic and fairy, like crystal dances from the music box. I/K was original charismatic, super fast and full of life. I don't see where C/L can be even near it. Enjoy youtube when vids are up.

First of all, I saw live on tv all the skaters before I expressed my opinions. Secondly, I've said earlier that C/L should have higher PCS at least on Ch, Tr ad Pe. I/K have way better skating skills than the rest - true. They earned the highest SS of the night and that is fair. But the rest is subpar. They have 2 or 3 stops in the program with lots of posing and silly arm movements, go to one element to another with little transitions. Of course it looks better when they go with that kind of speed but speed is not everything. Btw, I think I/K are so talented it's not even funny but the material they got this season is simply bad and quite empty if you take out the elements: only stops and posing. B/S were lovely but not better than the Italiens as an artistic impression IMO. They were tense in the first half(I even thought he was goind to throw up at some point) while C/L were more relaxed and program built nicely towards the end.